


The Problem with Chocolate Frogs

by Miraphina Atherton (mew_tsubaki)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Age Difference, Fluff, M/M, Older Characters, that's a light T rating btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:29:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27650687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mew_tsubaki/pseuds/Miraphina%20Atherton
Summary: Al, meeting all of his parents' expectations, finally disappoints them. He wonders if that's such a bad thing.
Relationships: Albus Severus Potter/Dean Thomas
Kudos: 3





	The Problem with Chocolate Frogs

**Author's Note:**

> The Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. Read, review, and enjoy!

Al squirmed, tossing and turning. He couldn't get to sleep.

He thought about what he'd done during the day and what he'd eaten. Ugh, those Chocolate Frogs. He really needed to stop eating Chocolate Frogs before bedtime.

Eating Chocolate Frogs before bedtime was one thing Al did wrong. And he didn't do a lot of wrong things. He had entered Slytherin House back in his school days, as his father had thought he would, and he had gained lots of glory for Slytherin, making it a better House as his father had expected he would. Al had been a Seeker from his second year on, he'd gotten a bunch of O.W.L.s, and he'd gotten all the N.E.W.T.s he needed to become an Auror. Again, his parents had expected all of this to happen.

Al was the middle child, the peacemaker, the good child. Where James flubbed up and dropped Quidditch, Al followed in their dad's footsteps. Where Lily sucked at Potions and preferred looking at pictures of dragons, Al studied everything he could with his friend, Scorpius, to become an Auror. And, even to today, Al had kept up with his Auror training. He only had a few months left of it anyway. Aside from the Auror part of him, Al didn't go looking for trouble.

As luck would have it, right when everything was right and perfect, Al finally found the Slytherin in him to ruin it all. He found trouble, all righty.

Dean would laugh and grin if he heard Al's thoughts. Dean Thomas wasn't trouble.

But Al begged to differ. He had his whole life set up perfectly. He hadn't been looking for love. Love, he thought, could come after a few years on the Auror taskforce, after he had enough experience to make sure he could come home every night. The last thing he needed was for his dad to kick back and have a boys' night in with Uncle Ron and their friends, Neville, Seamus, and Dean.

All right, maybe the last thing Al needed was to be asked to grab another firewhiskey from the kitchen.

Still, Al could grab a drink from the kitchen. Dean didn't _have_ to insist that he get it himself. "Al's got things to do," Dean said to Harry, "and I still have two legs, don't I?"

That was how Al ended up in the kitchen alone with Dean, contemplating thoughts for which Al felt pretty certain he had no need. Because why should a bloke look attractive as he simply walks into a kitchen? Why should a bloke look attractive as he opens the fridge _door_? Hell, why should a _bloke_ look attractive?!

"Thanks anyway, Al," Dean had said to him that time. He winked and returned to the living room. And Al was left, stunned that he could think how long and dark those lashes were.

Everything, as they say, went downhill from there. (Again, Dean would disagree.)

Either Dean hung around the Potter household more often, or Al had been too acutely aware of the few times Dean _was_ over. Because he befriended Dean himself. They chatted, they joked, and they had a jolly good time. It didn't _feel_ weird when Dean asked him to grab a drink.

Then when they grabbed that drink, Al realized…it was a date. Or had it been? Dean hadn't said "I like you" or snogged him or done anything inappropriate. So they grabbed another drink another time or two or four or twenty—Al hadn't kept track. And he hadn't kept track of his mind, either, when he decided to dive in headfirst for a snog. He didn't need to hear "I like you" in that moment. He'd been tormented long enough, having to go out with Dean for so long without being able to touch the beautiful git.

It didn't matter that, at a later time, Dean confessed he might never have gotten over a "thing" he had for Seamus. But Al reminded him that Seamus was happily married to Lavender; their son, Troy, was one of Al's brother's best mates, even.

Dean didn't need to hear that, but if Al was doing everything wrong then he might as well have kept pushing, yes?

So Al pushed, and they drank, and they dated, and they snogged, and it wasn't until Dean told him that his feelings for Seamus were gone that Al stopped and looked around him and saw how badly he'd screwed up. Because it had to be an unwritten rule that one does not shag the friend of one's parents.

So worried about doing anymore wrong, Al tried to convince himself that none of this had happened. He didn't like blokes. He didn't like Dean. He didn't make mistakes, and he sure as hell didn't do anything wrong. He was Albus Severus Potter, the good child.

"You're not a child anymore," Dean had told him with a sigh. "You can decide for yourself what's right and what's wrong."

Which brought Al back to the present as he leaned in to Dean and tried to fall asleep. So maybe finding something, someone he didn't know he…he _needed_ wasn't such a wrong thing.

But, he swore, Chocolate Frogs before bedtime was a no-no.

**Author's Note:**

> XD This was a lovely bit of silliness. I like Dean's easygoing attitude; I could see him being a good influence on Al. :3 *ignoring Ginny/Dean for this fic, because we all know Dean/Seamus* ;P
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew-tsubaki :D
> 
> 2017 note: *lol* Cute, random stories like this 2012 drabble just make my heart feel light. =w= Also, who tf wouldn't fall in love with Dean Thomas?! GAH. Perf boy. c: Poor Al. XD


End file.
